THE
SUNDAY
TIMES
BESTSELLERS
GENERAL HARDBACKS
Last
weekWeeks in
top 101
Windswept & Interesting
Billy Connolly
(Two Roads £25)
Memoir by the comedian who rose to
fame after an appearance on Parkinson
(21,080)262
Diddly Squat/Jeremy Clarkson
(M Joseph £16.99) Stories of agricultural life from
the broadcaster’s farm in the Cotswolds (19,645)123
And Away.. ./Bob Mortimer
(Simon & Schuster £20) The Shooting Stars and
Gone Fishing funnyman’s autobiography (16,725)6104
This Much Is True/Miriam Margolyes
(J Murray £20) The Bafta-winning star of stage and
screen reflects on her life and career (15,850)395
The Storyteller/Dave Grohl
(Simon & Schuster £20) The Nirvana and Foo
Fighters rock star shares stories from his life (15,825)476
Will/Will Smith and Mark Manson
(Century £20) The actor and musician charts his rise
to the top of the film and music industries (13,020)527
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse/Charlie
Mackesy (Ebury £16.99) An illustrated
fable containing gentle life philosophy (9,830)7 1118
Celebrating the Seasons with the Yorkshire
Shepherdess/Amanda Owen (Macmillan £20)
Stories, photographs and recipes (8,945)949
Big Panda and Tiny Dragon/James Norbury
(M Joseph £14.99) Illustrated, mindful tale of
friendship inspired by Buddhist philosophy (6,215)12 410
A Funny Life/Michael McIntyre
(Macmillan £20) The comedian reflects on the highs
and lows experienced during his rise to fame (5,775)11 2GENERAL PAPERBACKS
Last
weekWeeks
in top 101
The Power of Geography
Tim Marshall
(Elliott & Thompson £9.99)
An examination of ten regions that could
define global politics in the future
(4,680)182
Empireland/Sathnam Sanghera
(Viking £9.99) The British Empire and its
fundamental influence on modern Britain (2,530)373
Tall Tales and Wee Stories/Billy Connolly
(Two Roads £8.99) A selection of anecdotes
and illustrations from the popular comedian (2,525)6304
Good Vibes, Good Life/Vex King
(Hay House £10.99) How positive thinking, self-love
and overcoming fear lead to lasting happiness (2,495)2925
Entangled Life/Merlin Sheldrake
(Vintage £10.99) Biologist’s examination of the fungal
world and its importance to the planet (2,275)4126
Atomic Habits/James Clear
(Random House £16.99) The miniscule changes
that can grow into life-altering outcomes (2,075)11 197
Wreck This Journal/Keri Smith
(Penguin £9.99) A collection of prompts encouraging
readers to unleash their creative sides (2,020)10 968
The SHIIT Workout/Jim Squits
(Summersdale £7.99) Fitness book parody that offers
advice on how to get fit while on the loo (1,990)—19
A Del of a Life/David Jason
(Arrow £8.99) Life lessons learnt during the TV
star’s years in the entertainment business (1,820)71010
Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day/Tom Moore
(M Joseph £8.99) The life of the inspirational
centenarian who raised millions for charity (1,750)53Cook As You Are
Recipes for Real Life, Hungry
Cooks and Messy Kitchens
by Ruby Tandoh
Serpent’s Tail £19.99I’ve lost track of the number
of people who have told me
that this was their favourite
cookbook of the year. Tandohrecipes — is still a magnificent
volume of comfort. After all
these years no one describes
the simple, sensuous
pleasures of food better, from
“tiny capers the colour of
seaweed” to a blackberry and
apple pie whose filling is “soft
and cloud-like, marbled with
the juice of the blackberries”.FOOD
Sambal Shiok The Malaysian
Cookbook by Mandy Lin
Hardie Grant £25
The food of Malaysia — with its
combination of Indian spices
and Chinese techniques —
deserves to be better known.
Mandy Lin shows just how
exciting it can be, from spicy
bowls of laksa soup to the
peanut-rich comforts of satay.
Lin grew up in Kuala Lumpur
and runs a restaurant in
Highbury in London called
Sambal Shiok. This, her first
book, is a charming mixture
of recipes and memories of
Malaysian street food.
A Cook’s Book by Nigel Slater
4th Estate £30
Yes, you probably already
have some Slater books
on your shelf, but this —
a summation of his life in
LOUISE HAGGERhas done something new: a
cookbook that acknowledges
that home cooking happens in
the mess and exhaustion of
everyday life. She writes with
warmth and intelligence, and
her recipes — “Yorkshire
puddings for every occasion”,
“creamy mango and ginger
pudding pots” — are the kind
to lure you back into the
kitchen even when you think
you can’t face it.Crying in H Mart
by Michelle Zauner
Picador £16.99In a strong year for food
memoirs (see also Taste by
Stanley Tucci), this moving
and funny book about grief,
family and Korean cooking
was my favourite. H Mart is
an American supermarket
chain specialising in Asian
food. Zauner — now a singer
with the indie band Japanese
Breakfast — becomes obsessed
with H Mart and its aisles ofl After the runaway success
of Greg the Sausage Roll last
week, children’s books have
come out top again. This
week it is David Walliams’s
Gangsta Granny Strikes
Again! which made it to No 1,
selling more copies than the
bestselling hardback fiction
and non-fiction combined.
l Gangsta Granny is also
one of only two new entries
onto this week’s lists. The
other? The SHIIT Workout, a
parody fitness book telling
you how to tone up while on
the loo... Shame it didn’t get
as far as No 2.
The lists are prepared by and
the data is supplied by (and
copyrighted to) Nielsen BookScan,
and are taken from the TCM for
the week ending 20/11/21.
Figures shown are sales for
the seven-day period.
Taste of Malaysia Sambal
Shiok’s delicious street foodIt doesn’t have to be turkey
Bee Wilson’s food solutions, from Claudia Roden to hungry cooks with messy kitchens
BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Med
by Claudia
Roden
Ebury Press
£28Roden has been writing
cookbooks for more than 50
years, yet this latest one feels
as fresh as an Amalfi lemon.
In her earlier books Roden
recorded traditional recipes
exactly as they were given toher. Now, in her eighties,
she has given herself the
freedom to innovate and
“intensify flavours”. This is
a book of the simple recipes
Roden cooks for friends
and family — as well as
a record of her long love
affair with the cuisines of the
Mediterranean. The flavours
simply sing: pan-grilled fish
with garlic, vinegar and chilli;
spaghetti with prawns
Provençal; and hazelnut cake
with chocolate ganache.OUR BOOK OF THE YEAR
38 28 November 2021